In the 1990s, I thought the answer to the badinfo-misinfo-disinfo flood that search engines made possible was literacy -- teaching people how to detect badinfo and find good info. I first blogged about "Crap Detection 101" in 2009: https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/crap-detection-101-3227013.php

and my 2012 book, Net Smart, was my effort to stimulate social media literacy, including crap detection

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262526135/net-smart/

Now, I'm not so sanguine. Literacy has lost the arms race to ai-enhanced computational microtargetted mis/disinfo

In 2017 a man, after some thought, had a simple but genius idea and took a camera on a Southwest flight from Portland, Oregon to St. Louis and captured one of the most breathtaking images of all time.

Jon Carmichael's "108" is probably my favorite #eclipse image and provokes introspection every time I see it.

#space #astronomy #astrophotography #photography

Batman #GOP Rogue Gallery

Found on t2, created by @IamHappyToast (Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HappyToast)

(h/t @KristenWixx)

#batman #rogue #gallery #indictments #mugshot

I have just realized a very annoying thing: the "Austr-" in "Austria" means East, from German Öster. The "Austr-" in "Australia", on the other hand, means South, from Latin Australis.

Thank you, have a nice day.

With #StopMakingSense in the news, this seems like a good time to repost the stunning Rome 1980 Talking Heads live concert video. Without taking anything away from that magical film, believe it or not, it was filmed after the band's live performance apex which I think is fully captured in this incredible hour-plus of #music. I love SMS, but to me this is better, and it's not even very close. You may not agree but every #TalkingHeads fan should def check it out!

https://youtu.be/GwWW742T0Wc

Exactly 14 years ago , Satoshi Nakamoto designed the most pathetic / inefficient system ever invented by humankind : the blockchain.

Today, it weights 60 000 tons, wastes constantly 10 gigawatts (more than Belgium or Chile) to process less than 7 transactions per second :

Less than a 33 bps modem from 1990.

This could be a joke if it didn't have such gigantic environmental impact, wasn't enabling billion dollars ransomware industry and was not crushing thousands of lives in the process.

*SPOILERS* I just saw Oppenheimer, and I am appalled by the number of historical inaccuracies in it:

1. Oppenheimer only spoke in the third person. In the movie he says "I'm hankering for a ham sandwich, when he should have said "Oppenheimer is hankering for a ham sandwich".

2. Oppenheimer had a severe phobia of chairs. Yet the film confusingly shows Oppenheimer sitting in numerous chairs without screeching or sobbing.

3. Oppenheimer was married to John Wayne, but no mention of this is made.